alt Hacker NewsThe fact that this wouldn't have been considered a contribution before, or that this is a novel idea, suggests that there was something wrong with mathematics culture all along. I'm glad they're figuring it out now, but it seems "too little too late" after decades of devaluing all expository and exploratory work other than writing difficult proofs.
These things definitely were considered valuable contributions pre-AI, but were perhaps second fiddle to proving theorems. For example, part of the reason Erdős is so acclaimed is that he posed many interesting open questions which have kept mathematicians busy for many years.
I think Tao's point is that there's a necessary rebalancing and more weight should now be given to the non-proof stuff.